Roy Lanham & Red Wootten Revisited.

Our similarities were not evident at our first meeting.. but, later it was clear we were both hearing the same songs the same way.Our chord structures almost always worked handsomely together. Guitar & bass has to be clearly defined.. especially in a small group like the Whippoorwills... Mandolin/solo guitar & rhythm guitar and double bass.

Roy Lanham had extensive work amongst the country oriented world of music. Myself,I listened mostly to big bands..this in the late 30's. They were: Glen Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Woody Herman, Benny Goodman. Stan Kenton, Artie Shaw and a few B bands.

The radio & juke boxes were loaded with all the latest hits & a few misses now that I remember.

Briefly, (in Chattanooga) I had played a few gigs with a hoe-down band. Usually fiddle, guitar,banjo or mandolin. Almost the'bluegrass music we hear today. Their dances would last up to 6 minutes.. my poor old bass fingers (left hand) were worn to a frazzle & sore day & night.

In my first joining the'Whips'we stayed in motels and did our pract­ising in those worn out rooms while all the other people were out... ueuatty at work I assume.

Our rehearsal days were about 5 to 6 hours. This is where we'd work on 'head arrangements' (means we had to memorize all our songs before playing them for the public, etc.

Later, one of Artie Shaw's hits would find itself in our compilation. Summit Ridge Drive. This was a street in/near Beverly Hills, Hollywood Ca. And, the Stan Kenton hit 'Eager Beaver' was also of that style of orchestrated jazz. In Roy's album on Dolton Records 'The Most Exciting Guitar' we did Tommy Dorsey's (almost exact) arrangement on ‘Song Of India’. This LP also had the very wonderful swinger on drums, Earl Palmer recently from New Orleans. Earl and I did other record­ings in Hollywood... mostly middle of the road music.

What was so remarkable about Roy's expertise was he made a change in going from rhythm guitar to solo guitar.. this is a wider and more use of the left & right hand in guitar words. Being the solo artist that he later became was one hell of a jump.. a MEGA JUMP. I know of not one guitar player who was able to switch like he did.. he did it right too.

Roy was an avid listener to the highest level of country music. And, in doing so he was struck by the fact the 'steel guitar' was stealing the show.. these 'cats' are now being called 'the elite' of country music. Oh yes,they still have the 6 st.guitar but,here'sthe catch..Roy could and did, IMITATE the steel guitar as well. Hear him play 'Steel Guitar Rag' on same album (Dolton). But, I changed my bass parts to jazz. always 4 notes to a bar (walking, etc.) Ami Egilsson was amazed I had done it with a jazz beat… uptempo and exciting... as were all the tempos on that particular recording. Ail those years of listening to the big bands like Count Basle/Duke Ellington had left me with an imagination that simply wouldn't quit. We were, (I thnk) way ahead of our time.

But, still Roy Lanham gets the 'credits here'.. He took all knowledge concerning the guitar and placed it in one large LP. It is being re-released soon on CD. (Maybe this will clear up the confusion) if there was any left about that particular LP. I had just returned from Benny Goodman's fabulous tour when we recorded in 1959. Check it out.. you'll be glad you did.